Evelyn Franco’s mother, a teacher in Houston, always hoped her daughter would follow in her footsteps. While Franco’s career led her to banking instead of the classroom — she’s Texas senior vice president director of strategy and marketing for Frontier Bank — she’s still able to give back to schools through financial education.

In November, Franco visited Manor High School to share about how  she started out as a teller, working  20 hours a week at the drive-thru during college, and planned to become a nurse. At first, she thought banking was a bit stuffy but then realized it was just another way to help people. 

“I realized I could make a living helping families in a different way,” Franco said. “I’m still able to do outreach and I feel really lucky that I can do that.”

When Decker Middle School’s food bank was broken into twice, she worked with Sean Donnelly at Frontier’s Manor branch to collect food at all Frontier branches to stock the school’s food supply in time for the beginning of the school year. 

From offering a scholarship to a McCallum High School student, who was the first in her family to attend college, to helping Lamar Middle School’s annual fundraiser, Franco has made a real difference in her community while also taking on responsibility at her bank. After all, she opened Frontier’s first Austin branch on Burnet Road less than two years ago. 

Joining Frontier

Originally working for Washington Mutual, which was taken over by Chase Bank, Franco got to see how community banks differed from larger banks. When a former coworker asked her to speak to Frontier CEO Patrick Johnson, Franco thought it might be a good time for a change. When she learned that Frontier was started by six women after their community bank, Elgin Bank, was bought by Franklin Bank and then Prosperity Bank, she was inspired to take her own leap of faith and join Frontier. 

The women had noticed a difference between the community bank they originally worked for and working at a regional bank, so they decided to start a true community bank, working with bankers they knew and asking for help. Frontier’s COO Elaine Martin chartered the bank, buying a “bank-in-a-box,” which was a trailer where staff helped customers while building their headquarters. Of the six women, five of them are still working at Frontier Bank, with the sixth having since died of cancer. 

Franco was hired to open the branch at 5600 Burnet Road — the first Austin full-service branch for the bank — where she was able to build it from the ground up. From working with architects and selecting technology to ordering the toilet paper for the branch, she learned how to efficiently manage a project and created a playbook from which the bank can continue building branches. 

Frontier currently has five branches, three of which she’s helped open in Central Texas — Elgin, Bastrop, Austin, Manor and Leander — and a loan production office, but is always looking for opportunities to grow. 

The day-to-day

Franco’s current position allows her to closely partner with branches throughout the bank’s footprint, making her days look drastically different depending on their needs. She leads and coordinates efforts to implement the bank’s strategic plan as they roll out new products, open new branches and digitize the bank, and supports their marketing efforts.

“My job is to look for ways to refine our processes and find solutions that meet our customers’ needs while carrying out our five-year plan,” Franco said. “It’s a revolutionary time to be in banking; there’s so much transformation and growth happening within our industry the possibilities endless. Although banking is conservative, I believe there’s a space where we can wisely modernize our banks to meet the current and future needs of our customers.”

She says Johnson motivates her as a forward-thinking CEO, who sends her ideas the bank may want to incorporate in the future and gives her creative freedom to determine if it’s right for their market. This is her first year in the Executive Development Institute of Graduate School of Banking in Colorado and she said her peers from Denver have also given her inspiration, as she sees so many similarities in the Denver and Austin markets. 

Inspiring others

Franco encourages those who may not be in a position at the bank that aligns with their career goals to not be disheartened or say to themselves, “I’m just a bank teller” or “I’m just a branch manager” or whatever the position is where they may feel stuck.  She says in all of her positions when she began feeling that she was at the top of what she could do, she would begin volunteering to help out in other areas. She encourages others to raise their hand when an opportunity to do something new arises. 

“Just because that’s where you start doesn’t mean that’s where you’re going to end up,” Franco said. “No one asked me to start a playbook, but I did it because I knew we were opening more branches and I thought it could help. After a while, people will start to notice your efforts. Always work hard, even when no one is watching, continuously raise your hand and get out of your comfort zone. That’s a part of who I am and what’s helped me grow. I don’t let my title dictate my role.”